Time burning railway signal fusee



F. BUTCHER.

TIME BURNING RAILWAY SIGNAL FUSEE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25, 1921.

Patented Oct. 3, 1922.

Patented Get, 3, i922.

OFFICE.

FRANK DUTCHER, OF VERSAILLES, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR '1'0 CENTRAL RAIL- WAY SIGNAL COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, IEN'NSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 015 NEW JERSEY.

TIME BURNING RAILWAY SIGNAL FUSEE.

Application filed Apri125, 1921. Serial no. 464,109.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK BUTCHER, a citizen of the United States, resding at Versailles, in the county of Alleghen and State of Pennsylvania, have invente cer-. tain new and useful Improvements in Time Burning Railway Signal F usees, of which the following is a specificat on, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawthe lighting end of the fusee.

Fig. 3 is a detached enlarged perspective view of my improved means for lnsurmg the lighting of the fusee compound from the lighting head and of holding the lightin head in position.

t is well known to those skilled in this art that railway signal time burning fusees comprise a'paper case 1, in which the fusee time burning compound 2 is placed, and that in theupper end of the case and extending down into the fusee compound 2 is what is termed in the art as a lighting head or priming compound 3. It is also well known to those skilled in the art that fusees are lighted on the safety match principle, that is to say, there is a projectln chlorate of potassium lighting compoun 4, at the lighting end of the fusee, WhlCh is In contact with the lighting head 3, and that the fusee is provided with a removable cap (not shown) which contains a lighting material which is complementary to the chlorate 4, whereby the chlorate of potassium compound 4: is ignited by friction with the complementary lighting material on the cap.

The fusee compound 2 is slow burnin for the purpose of burning a specific length of time and is preferab y the perchlorate compound of the Niditch Patent No.

which is then added to the above powdered composition, which makes it a thin plastic mixture. This plastic mixture forming the lighting head 3 is placed-in an opening 5, formed 1n the fusee compound 2, and afterwards the chlorate of potassium compound 4 is placed thereon when in a plastic state.

The lighting head 3, as stated, is a fast burning compound and ignites at a relat vely low temperature, so that it is readily llghted by the lighting compound 4, and owing to its fast burning character, the burning particles thereof are thrown with quite a good deal of force from the open end of the fusee, and it has been found desirablef in the art to provide means i for fastening the lighting head to the fusee compound 2, and various means have been pro vided for this purpose.

Although the lighting head 3 is a fast burning compound, it has been found in practice to sometimes fail to light the fusee compound 2. Since these; time burning fusees are used for safety signals on railroads, a single failure of the fusee to burn is liable to cause a serious accident. Therefore any means that will either insure the lighting of the fusee compound, or to make its lighting more certain is of prime importance in railway signal fusee constructions. I

I lit is the object of my present improvement to provide a' combined fire conveying and holding member which passes through the lighting head into the fusee compound and is of such a character as to make more certain or to insure the lighting of the fusee compound by the burning of the lighting hea I have discovered that the dissolved shellac, in thelighting head compound 3, is

absorbed by the relatively dry fusee compound surrounding it, in sufiicient quantity so that when it dries a hard shellac saturated wall 6 surrounds the lighting head 3, and that this vary hard shellac saturated wall -.'interferes withflthe conveying :of, the; the

I was from the lighting head to the fuses com I pound .2, and is largely, if not i wholly, re-,

sponsible for-the. failure of the lighting head to ignite the fuses compound 2'. I For the purpose of assistingthelightng 1 head 3 iniconveying its fire to the fuses com-. pound 2,'a wood'peg'has .been'passed through i thelightilng head into the fuseje compound,

and the woodpeg is saturated'with a. com-f bustible compound," This .form of device is I shown'in the N i'ditch Pate-ntNo. 1,015,062,.

7 I January 1613111912 and No. 1,068,267, July. 1

? 22nd 1913. 'The patentee Niditch appears not to have discovered that the :failure of the lighting head to light the fusee' com-5 E 3 pound i was due to the forming of a: very; i hardshellac I saturated wall surrounding: the I lightin g' head, nor indeed tohave discovered. that v there was any such hard surrounding Y wall.. -The; burningfl'pro'duc'tsofthe wood- I peg arejcarr ed'out:through the-openend. I 1 7 of the fuses :by the: force of the rapid burn I 5 ing' of the lighting head, and, itherefore,- the light burning products of the wood peg do: not remain within the :fuse'e to convey their l fire to the fuseei compound proper, and the. 1 wood peg forms only one: depending ele'-= ment for conveying the fire to: the fuses compound; 1 Furthermore, the pegpasses through the-center: andilower end of the. lighting. head, and y is, i therefore, removed from-, the.

hard shellac saturated wall which surrounds the lighting head.

I have discovered a form of fire conveying and lighting head holding member which 1s not blown out of the fuse'e by the blow-flame effect of the rapidly burnin lighting head compound 3, but which wil remain in the fusee in its fused or approximately fused condition for conveying its fire to the fusee compound 2.

This new member consists of an annealed wire which is preferably in the form of an elongated U, or hairpin shape, as indicated at 7. This wire 7 is composed of an annealed soft metal, and preferably of a character which is fused by the heat from the lighting head 3. Fig. 2 shows twice the usual cross-. sectional size of the full size fuses, and the member 7 in Figs. 2 and 3 is shown twice the full size. The diameter of the wire, of which the member 7 is formed, may vary and also the length of the member may vary. As shown, the leg portions of the member 7 pass through the lighting head 3, near its outer wall, which in full size is one-half the thickness shown in Fig. 2, thus bringing the depending legs of the member 7 very close to the surroundin hard shellac saturated wall 6, and that t e two legs pass through the lower portion of the lighting head and through the surrounding wall 6 and into the fusee com osition 2, at two separate points.

When t 'e upper end of the lighting head parallel .le come 'fusec l .hot blow-like, flame quickly. fuses or approximately fuses the upper double end-Softhe 2 member 7, and thishot heavy metal is not blown. from the fusee and remains. therein;

As the lighting head 3 continues toburmthe portions of the member :7, b i: I

or approximately fused and serve to materially; add to Y the conveying, of the fire from the, lighting head3, through the shellac saturated wall 6 pound.

in%trainafteritislighted.

reason: of. the outwardly. bentlower; EendsQ, the legs of the U shapedmembar z? j j arecaused tospreadioutward,as shownin. Fig; :2, asgthe member. is being forced into position intothe fusee compound2; i 1 i I 1 1 QM improved member? is forced through:

, fusi 1e.

By having the metal of the U-shaped member wholly fusible, it falls within the fusee as the lighting head and the fusee com ound burn down and prevents any outward y extending structure, and this will be equally true if the metal is approximately fusible for then it will also fall into the fusee, as the compounds are burned away from it.

I am aware that a cup-shaped woven wire enclosure has been provided for the upper end of the fusee compound with its side walls extending down against the wall of the paper tube, as shown in Patent No. 1,205,928, November 21st, 1916, to E. C. Pfeil and H. O. Bemisderfer, but in this patent the cup-shaped member does not extend through the lighting head and into the fusee composition, and does not serve the function 0 my combined holding and light- 1ng member 7. To the contrary, the only function of the cup-shaped member 6 of the said patent is to hold the lighting end of the fuses against being blown or knocked out of a i I the: ighting headi3,fbefore:ithasdried out and its lower ends are hammered or forced into the fuses compound 2, by hammering or 7 5 I to the fuses c'om- :1: have: found in actual practice, that my 1 improved holding; and fire 2 conveying; member is an important improvement over those heretofore -used1a-,nd,-,in practice, insures the p I conveying of a lighting fire from the light-:

ing head to the. fusee compound 2, and also 1 prevents, the lighting head from being blown; I out'of the fusee compound,.owing.to.its rapid 5 burning, and also prevents. the lighting head from. being; thrown or 'knockedout ofythe i fusee,;when it is thrown from a rapidly movv the fusee case, and it does not embody the function or principle of my present improvement.

- be blown away by the rapidly burning lighting compound and insures the lighting of the fusee'compound.

The soft wirewhich I have used, may be stated to be composed of carbon, manganese, sulphur, phosphorus and silicon, although the components may be varied so long as a soft wire is used, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a railway signal time burning fusee, an enclosing case, a slow burning fusee compound therein, a lighting head at one end of the case andextendin into the fusee compound, and a combine% fire conveying and holding member consisting of a soft metallic wire passing through the lighting head and into the fusee compound.

2. In a railway signal time burning fusee, the combination of an enclosing case, a fusee compound therein, a lighting head at one end of the case and extending into the fusee compound, and a combined fire conveying and holding member consisting of a fusible metallic wire passing through the lighting head and into the fusee compound.

3. In a railway signal time burning fusee, the combination of an enclosing. case, a fusee compound therein, a lighting head at one end of the case and extending into the fusee compound, and a combinedfire conveying and holding member consisting of an elongated U-shaped metallic member with its leg portions passing through the lighting head and into the fusee compound and its bent or doubled end at the outer end of the lighting head.

4. In a railway signal time burning fusee, the combination of an enclosing case, a fusee compound therein, a lighting head at one end of the case and extending into the fusee compound, and a combined fire conveying and holding member consistin of a soft metallic elongated U-shaped wlre with its leg portions extending through the lighting head and into the fusee compound and its bent or doubled end at the outer end of the lighting head.

5. In a railway signal time burning fusee, the combination of an enclosing case, a slow burning fusee compound within the case, a lighting head at one end of the case and extending into the fusee compound, and a combined fire conveying and holding member consisting of an elongated U-shaped metallic member, composed of metal which is fused by the temperature of the lighting head, the legs of the U-shaped member passing through the lighting head and its bent portion at the outer end of the lighting head.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

FRANK BUTCHER 

